Paid in Full
by SilentLaurel
Summary: The solution is really very simple. Crossroads deal oneshot.


Disclaimer: The characters contained herein are the property of CW and Kripke.

**Paid in Full**

_"You're gonna die, Dean! And this is what you're gonna become!"  
"And I don't deserve to go to Hell!"_

When Sam knows what he wants, he goes after it. And he gets it. When Sam had finished high school with grades and test scores high enough to be attractive to Stanford, despite moving from school to school more than was really sane, it had been because he decided to do it. It hadn't really been a question whether Sam would eventually find and dispatch Jessica's killer. He'd made up his mind to do it, and that was that. But this year Sam had begun to think---for the first time, really---that he was going to fail. 

_...omnes enim peccaverunt et egent gloriam Dei..._

They couldn't shoot their way out of this one. Sam had known that all along, crossroads demon notwithstanding. Dean rightfully belonged to Hell now, and all the deepest Laws of the supernatural upheld that. Man, what they were up against--they weren't going to muscle their way out of. Nobody had that kind of firepower. 

_...stipendia enim peccati mors gratia autem Dei vita aeterna in Christo Iesu Domino nostro..._

At first they'd searched, interrogated every likely being, dug through every book, trying to get their hands on the contract itself. They hadn't found it, of course, but they had found out it wouldn't matter. This was carved-on-the-foundations-of-the-world kind of stuff, deny-me-and-all-earth-will-be-overturned-in-fire-and-water kind of stuff, so no, they couldn't just tear the thing in half and move on. 

After Sam learned that little fact, he had toyed with the idea of going to ground, laying low. For all of two minutes. Because, really, hiding would be as silly as fighting. 

_...commendat autem suam caritatem Deus in nos quoniam cum adhuc peccatores essemus Christus pro nobis mortuus..._

So there it was. Can't fight, can't hide, can't run so Sam changed his angle of attack. He was a law student. American law, not Spiritual law, but a few principles still applied. A contract is subject to the laws of the presiding government. Sam looked for loopholes. There weren't any. And even if Sam could find some cosmic appeals court, the contract was valid and he knew what the verdict would be. The demon had rendered services and was owed a payment. Death.

_...quia si confitearis in ore tuo Dominum Iesum et in corde tuo credideris quod Deus illum excitavit ex mortuis salvus eris...omnis enim quicumque invocaverit nomen Domini salvus erit..._

Turns out it doesn't absolutely have to be Dean's death, and that was a glimmer of hope. But it did have to be death, and it had to be complete--and Dean had nipped that suggestion in the bud. And really, Sam couldn't disagree. Sam dead and in Hell wasn't exactly the best solution. Someone would still end up dead.

More research, and it looked like Sam wouldn't have qualified anyway. To be valid, the substitute had to be willing. And it had to be someone Hell had no prior claim on, zip, zilch, nada, and but? Sam had already died once. So to find someone else willing to die in Dean's stead? Not so likely, even if they could find a person with nothing that could be pinned on them, not a single jot the Accuser could point to as condemning. 

_...sed et si quis peccaverit advocatum habemus apud Patrem Iesum Christum iustum..._

They'd had two months to go, down to the wire, and bargaining had slowly bled into despair. Tension ran high, tempers had flared, and the brothers had split up for the day for breathing room. Which is why Sam was now alone, reading one of Pastor Jim's old books, and he's found his appeals court and he's even found himself a lawyer, and finally he knows that, he, Sam Winchester, can't do diddly-squat to save his brother. Sam smiled, and reached for the phone. 

_...nihil ergo nunc damnationis est his qui sunt in Christo Iesu qui non secundum carnem ambulant..._

"Dean? There's a way out. If you want it."

_"So the next time the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and Hell, tell him this: 'I admit that I deserve death and Hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!'"--Luther, 2003 _


End file.
